In April, the Web Marketing
Association had our WebAward judges review both Hillary Clinton's and
Barack Obama's Website in a head to head challange. Senitor Obama's
Website won the challange and he went on to win the Democratic nomination
(I'm not saying it was because of us, but you have to wonder...)

Well, we are at it again. This
month we asked the WebAward Judges to compaire Senitor John McCain's
Website with that of Senitor Obama's. Accross the board, Senitor Obama's
Website was consistantly seen as better in all aspects of Website
development.

Here are the results.

Design - Asked "which
Website has the most pleasing design?" WebAward judges selected the Obama
site 4 to 1 over the McCain Website.84.5% of them voted for Senator
Obama's Website and 15.5% selected Senator McCain's Website as better
looking.

Innovation - Website
innovation also went in favor of Barack Obama. By the same margin as
design, the vast majority of WebAward judges (82.4%) thought the Obama
Website seems more innovative, while only 17.6% favored McCain's.

Content - In terms of
having the most appealing content, judges again selected the Obama Website
over John McCain 's Website, although by a narrower margin than the first
two criteria. 71.6% of the WebAward judges felt barackobama.com has more
appealing content for visitors compared to 28.4% for johnmccain.com.
WebAward judges also found that the Obama Website is more effective for
telling the candidate's story and attracting contributions and voters to
its cause (72.2% Obama vs 27.8% McCain).

Ease of use - Senator
Obama's Website was seen as easier to use by the WebAward judges than
Senator McCain's. 73.8% selected barackobama.com as easier to use compared
to 26.2% of WebAward judges who felt johnmccain.com was easier.

Copywriting - It is
obvious that both campaigns have excellent writers on staff. Neither
Websites have any of the editing issues some large organizations can
experience. However, the WebAward judges gave the advantage to the Obama
site (70.1% over the McCain site 29.9%).

Interactivity -
Interactivity makes a Website more than just an online billboard and both
candidates were effective in giving visitors to their Websites plenty to
see and do. Nevertheless, once again the WebAward judges gave the edge
regarding interactivity to the Obama Website (75.2%) over the McCain
Website (24.8%).

Technology - Use of
technology is evident in both candidates' Websites, however, the clear
favorite for the WebAward judges was barackobama.com winning 82.4% of the
votes compared to johnmccain.com with only 17.6% of the votes.

When the WebAward judges were
asked "If the election was to be held today. Which candidate would you be
more likely to vote for?" 54.6% responded Barack Obama, 15.7% responded
John McCain, 11.1% voted neither and 18% reported that they are a non-US
judge and can not vote for anyone in a US election.

Regardless of who you will be
voting for in the next presidential election, Websites are going to play
an ever increasingly important role in how candidates get their messages
across to the American voters. Based on the findings of this survey by
some of the top Internet professionals available today, the Web Marketing
Association names barackobama.com the winner of the McCain vs Obama
Website Challenge. We wish both candidates the best of luck in their
efforts to become the next President of the United States in the November
election.

Bill RicePresidentWeb
Marketing Association

WebAward Competition - -- The 2008 WebAward winner have
been announced and are posted on the competition Web site. Thank you to
everyone who participated and congratulations to all of our winners and
your awards are in production.

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Website
Magazine

If you're not
already getting Website Magazine, you should be. There's no charge within
the US and available for a small fee outside the U.S.(covers the extra
shipping). It has great in depth articles that are helpful and well
written. Use this link to sign up to receive
the next issue.